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Detailed Guide to Being a Middleman
Introduction Most of the trades in TWOM are either settled via the Traders or the trade window between two players. However, some trades cannot be done in this way - most noticeably, account trades - and this is where a middleman (often abbreviated as ‘MM’ in game) would sometimes be required. In principle the middleman is supposed to act as a trusty intermediary, first holding all the things (be it gold, items or accounts) to be traded and next passing to each party whatever it is that they are trading for, thereby eliminating the risk of either side getting scammed. If you are approached to be a middleman, congratulations - it implies that you are deemed by the parties to be trustworthy and credible. However, by agreeing to help them, you are also undertaking certain responsibilities. The goal of this guide is to shed some light on how may a middleman conduct the trade in such a way as to protect the interests of all parties. (Disclaimer: I know that there are a number of professional, trusted and high profile middlemen on different servers who do the trade with perhaps some variations to the procedures suggested here. The purpose of this guide is NOT to set forth the “best” procedures or to discount their devotion; rather, it is to help out those who are relatively new to being a middleman or those who are looking for some guidelines to follow when being given a responsibility as such. It is my belief that anyone can be a good middleman given that they know the crux of it. Any feedback would be welcomed as well!) Recommended Procedures For the purpose of illustration, I would adopt the typical scenario in which a seller is to sell an account to a certain buyer for gold and/or item(s). In practice, however, the situation may vary from trade to trade in that it could involve multiple accounts, cross-server items and even real money. No matter what, just bear in mind the basic principle: make sure that you as the middleman has obtained absolute control over all the items involved in the trade, and only after that should you start passing the items to their respective new owners. #Form a party with the buyer and the seller. Most of the conversation should be done via party chat so as to ensure that everyone is on the same page. #Ask, in party chat, what the trade is about: what is the thing to be sold, and at what price. Price may mean a range of things such as gold and/or item(s) and/or even another account. Make a list of the item(s) involved if you feel the need to. #Ask the buyer, in party chat, what it is that he/she would like you to check on the account. Usually this will include details like level, EXP, skills, items (soulbound and/or non-soulbound), base stats, etc. You may want to jot down these details so you can refer to them later. Make it clear that the buyer must be specific and that you are not responsible for checking other details not mentioned in the current party chat. Make sure that all aspects of the trade are agreed to by both parties. #Ask the buyer to pass you the gold and/or item(s) he/she is paying for the account. Usually if the trade involve item(s), it would be a good idea to make sure that you have enough space in your inventory first; also be careful not to mix the items for trade with your own. At this point the seller may want to check the gold and/or item(s). Should the seller request this, show him/her the gold and/or item(s) in trade window accordingly, but be careful not to accidentally pass them to him/her instead. Theoretically speaking there is nothing wrong with checking the account first before getting the buyer to give you gold and/or item(s); nevertheless it is more advisable to follow the steps set out here, since from what I know it is the customary practice. #Ask the seller whether the account has security / device verification service activated. If no then it’s all good and you can proceed to the next step (if the seller appears to have no idea what you are talking about, then in general it means a “no”). However, if the seller answers in the affirmative, get him/her to go onto the account for sale, talk to the security manager in village, select “Add a device” > “Add a device” > “Add” (I know how it sounds but it’s really what happens; you will have to press “add” thrice) > enter a name for the new device (any name would be fine; although it may help to keep in mind that the newly added device would be yours, not the buyer’s). Note that at this point certain contingencies may arise. The seller may tell you that he/she already has a few registered devices on the account (the maximum being five), and/or that he/she has initialized the security service recently. Now, if no initialization has been done within one week prior to the trade, i.e. the security service is still capable of initialization, then it does not really matter how many registered devices there are on the account. If there are already five registered devices, get the seller to initialize (“Delete device/initialize” > “Initialize device registration info” > “Initialize”) before adding a device for you. If there are already four registered devices, your device being the fifth after it is added, you will have to initialize after you have logged into the account so that you can add another device for the buyer. On the other hand, if the seller has initialized the security service within one week prior to the trade and that the security service is no longer capable of initialization for the time being, then the current number of registered devices MUST NOT BE LARGER THAN THREE, otherwise the trade cannot proceed, since at least one device for the middleman and another for the buyer will have to be added. Also note that the device must not be added too early prior to the actual login, as the waiting device will disappear after a certain period of time (not sure of the exact timing, but I believe it is less than half an hour) if no login by new device has taken place. If this does happen, just get the seller to add a device again. #Ask the seller to tell YOU the info (ID and password) of the account IN WHISPER; jolt down the info for handy reference. This step is very crucial, and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of NEVER EVER LET THE SELLER TELL THE INFO TO THE BUYER DIRECTLY. Sometimes both the seller and the buyer would think that now that the middleman has a hold on the gold and/or item(s) for trade, it should be alright for the buyer to check the account directly, since if anything goes wrong the middleman can still give the gold and/or item(s) to the seller… Yes? WRONG. If you let the seller tell the info to the buyer directly and both parties end up complaining that they cannot access the account, you will have no way to tell whether (i) the seller has deliberately told the wrong info to the buyer and afterwards pretends that he/she cannot login either or (ii) the buyer, after gaining access, has changed the info of the account, yet pretending that he/she cannot login in the first place. You will end up not knowing to whom you should give the gold and/or item(s) since both sides would claim that the other has scammed them. Needless to say, this puts you as the middleman in a very bad position. Therefore by all means avoid this. If the parties insist in having the seller tell the buyer the info directly, tell them either do it your way or find another middleman. #Sometimes the seller would be on the account he/she is selling. If he/she has not logged into another of his/her account at this stage yet, get him/her to do so AFTER TELLING YOU THE NAME OF THE ALTERNATE CHARACTER HE/SHE WILL BE USING. You would not want to mistakenly pass the gold and/or item(s) to the wrong person. Now, if you have multiple devices, you can conveniently log onto the account for sale using a second device. But if not, just log off your current account and log onto the account for sale using the same device. #If all the above steps have been properly performed, you should be able to login the account without a fuss. However, if you receive the message “Login Fail” at the login screen, it means that the info you have entered is incorrect. Retry; if you still cannot login, log back onto your current account, form a party with the seller and the buyer again, tell the seller the info is incorrect in the party chat and ask him to confirm it to you in whisper (if you keep failing to login then there must be something wrong at the seller’s side; just give the buyer the gold and/or item(s) back and terminate trade). On the other hand, if a window pops up saying “This device is not registered yet. Log-in with a registered device to add the device”, then it means that although the info is correct, a new device has not been added to the account. Log back onto your current account, form a party with the seller and the buyer and repeat step 5 before you proceed. #After you have logged onto the account for sale, form a party with the seller and buyer and check the account with reference to the details specified in step 3. Either confirm the details in party chat or, if anything is amiss, tell the buyer accordingly and ask if he/she would still want to proceed with the trade nonetheless. The latter scenario seldom arises but if it does and if the buyer does not want to buy the account anymore, just log off the account, log back onto your current account and give the buyer the gold and/or item(s) back. If all parties agree to proceed with the trade, on the main screen select “Menu” (the little button located at the top left corner of the screen with the character’s head on it) > “System” (the quill icon) > “Com2us Hub” > “My page” > “Account Settings” > “Email” > change the email (you can make up a random email address, it doesn’t really matter as long as it is not taken)> “Password” > change the password (use a password that cannot be guessed too easily and yet not overly complex; it is usually advisable to jolt it down). Exit the menu and tell the parties in party chat you are done changing info. If the account has security service, add another device for the buyer at the security manager (you may refer to the steps set out in step 5). Tell the parties you are now logging off the account for sale; log back onto your current account. #On your current account, form a party with the buyer and the seller again. Now at this point it doesn’t really matter whether you give the gold and/or item(s) to the seller first or tell the buyer the new info of the account in whisper first. Sometimes the buyer would want you to hold the gold and/or item(s) until they can login the account for sale and confirm that everything is alright; entertain this request if you wish. Just note that if either side for whatever reason wants to cancel trade, only do it if (i) both parties consent to it and (ii) you can still gain access to the account for sale and change its info. If not then you would still be obliged to give the gold and/or item(s) to the seller. #Do remind the buyer to change both the email and the password of the account and initialize the security service as soon as possible for good measure. Mission completed! Miscellaneous Fee/commission - Depending on factors such as value of the trade, prestige and personal preference of the middleman, the middleman service may vary from being free of charge to costing a fee (usually expressed as a fixed sum or as a certain percent of the value of the trade) payable by the buyer and/or the seller. In general if nothing is said the middleman service would be understood to be free of charge. However if you want a modest remuneration for the time you have devoted into the trade (which you are quite entitled to - unless you are helping out a friend!), make sure that the trading parties understand the arrangement beforehand. Risk/accident - Unfortunate as it is, sometimes the trade does go wrong despite your best endeavours, and for whatever reason the parties may claim that you have scammed them. This is a risk inherent in being a middleman and, sadly, there is no effective precaution you can take except perhaps actually taking the trouble to record/screenshot the whole process of the trade. If this happens and you are absolutely sure that it is no fault of yours, do not panic, try to understand what happened and explain to the parties patiently. If this does not work out, do not take it too hard; just remember that it is not your fault and that your friends and your other experiences in being a middleman will help to protect your reputation. Reward - Although all these may sound truly troublesome, being a middleman does have its own reward in that you know you are helping others and that you are trusted by them. A good and experienced middleman often enjoys a high reputation and is respected and trusted by many players as well. Anyone can be a good middleman as long as you are careful and patient enough. Happy MMing! Category:Guide